Artisan, which offers a dozen U.S. and non-U.S. investment
strategies, sold 11 million shares for $30 each, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. The firm had offered 11.5 million
shares, equivalent to a 17 percent stake, for $27 to $29 apiece.
The company will trade under the symbol APAM on the New York
Stock Exchange.

Artisan, led by Executive Chairman Andrew Ziegler and Chief
Executive Officer Eric Colson, proceeded with the IPO as markets
have rebounded since its first attempt to tap public markets,
with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 17 percent since
the end of 2011 and closing at a record for the past two days.
Equity mutual funds in the U.S. attracted $54 billion in the
first seven weeks of the year, according to data from the
Investment Company Institute.

Artisan’s funds include the top-performing $6.6 billion
Artisan International Value Fund, which beat 99 percent of peers
over the past five years, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. The $8 billion Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund beat 97
percent of rivals over the past five years. The team that runs
the fund won Morningstar Inc. (MORN)’s award for best domestic stock-
fund manager in 2011.

“I think their overall investment performance will help
them,” Geoff Bobroff, a fund consultant in East Greenwich,
Rhode Island, said in a phone interview. “As a public company
they’ll be faced with a lot of things, but investors and
intermediaries like Artisan’s products, and that’s a good sign
for them.”

Artisan’s Earnings

Net income fell 75 percent in 2012 to $33.8 million as
expenses related to compensation climbed, according to
regulatory filings. Revenue, most of which the company earns
from fees for managing client money, rose in each of the
previous three years. Assets surged 30 percent in 2012 to $74
billion.

Artisan planned to use $90 million of the sale’s proceeds
to repay debt, $67.1 million to buy shares from early investors
and $61.3 million to pay a distribution to pre-IPO partners,
according to regulatory filings. The company said it distributed
$56.8 million to portfolio managers and $40 million to partners
before today’s sale.